Natur Cymru

Nothing connects us to nature more firmly, or reminds us of our animal biology more clearly, than food. Strip away the alienating influences of agri-business, food processing, and retailing, and it becomes clear that a concern for the food we eat and for the health of natural world should go together.

There is plenty in this edition to illustrate the happy union of food and nature. The story of our old Welsh apple varieties is a reminder of virtues which earlier generations found in these varieties, and the wonderful gift from the past to the present which old orchards represent.

The Teifi Marshes reserve has welcomed the water buffalo to its ranks of helpers. As paddy field tractors and the providers of healthy meat and mozzarella cheese, these animals have brought huge benefits to our species. Down on the marshes, they are providing another service, clearing common reed and improving the environment.

Nature is often pushed into small reserves, but where extensive areas of ‘unimproved’ habitat remain, such as the uplands around the Elan valley, the hedges are filled with nuts and berries, and woods and fields are full of fungi. Wild mushrooms, some an infinitely finer flavour than the white spheres which supermarkets sell, attract visitors and support the local economy.

It is ‘open season’ on the supermarkets. Books such as Joanna Blythman’s Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets, and Felicity Lawrence’s Not on the Label – What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate, have been selling like hot cakes. I have resisted the temptation to review these, as they deal with the corruption of the food chain as it affects consumers, rather than the environment. That has still left me with one book to review which does make all the connections between what we eat, how our food is produced and what this does to the living environment.

So Shall We Reap is a powerful analysis of where the food industry has gone wrong. Although it makes gloomy reading, green shoots are detectable. Poorly suited to ‘commodity’ farming, where food has to be produced at the lowest possible cost for the global market, Wales has huge assets when it comes to environmental farming, such as hardy, well-adapted Welsh Black cattle.

The restoration of rush meadows and heaths, the conversion of plantations to natural woods and the delight of seeing ospreys in the Welsh countryside are all causes for hope. Wales is so naturally blessed that, despite the environmental challenges we face, it is hard not to be an optimist.

James Robertson